BY THE NUMBERS Only 43 of 150 seat in state House contested with major party candidates; in Senate, only four of 31.

QUOTABLE "One out of four? Not bad. People generally don't pay a lot of attention to politics in good times, and that's good." Perry, on poll that found only 26 percent knew he was lieutenant governor.

DALLAS {AP} On his home turf, Gov. George W. Bush solidly beat Vice President Al Gore on both issues and character as he rolled up huge margins Tuesday across many age, income and demographic groups in Texas.

By a narrow margin, voters said issues were more important than the candidates' qualities in determining their vote. The voters' two most important issues were the economy and taxes, and in both cases, they gave Bush the overwhelming advantage.

Among voters who said character mattered more than issues, four-fifths voted for Bush.

"Our economy may be in good shape, but Clinton was not a president I could be proud of," said Rose Marie Norman, a homemaker and part-time substitute teacher in Harlingen, after voting for Bush.

Preliminary findings from a survey of voters as they left the polls Tuesday indicated the breadth of Bush's sweep in Texas. Bush not only got nine of 10 Republican votes, he also carried about two-thirds of self-described moderates and independents. He ran well among middle-class voters and had a lock on voters with incomes of more than $75,000.

Bush carried all age groups and won among seniors despite Gore's attacks on his plan to partially privatize Social Security.

There were few bright spots in the Lone Star State for Gore. About two-fifths of Texas voters said President Clinton is doing a good job, and they voted 2-to-1 for Gore. And he won overwhelmingly among blacks, liberals and Democrats.

Bush was able to mute even some of Gore's core supporters in other states. Union members in Texas were just as likely to vote for Bush as for Gore, and the vice president only managed to split the votes of those favoring abortion rights despite Bush's stated opposition to legal abortions.

The strongest rebuke to Gore was delivered on personal qualities.

About one-third of Texas voters said honesty was the most important quality in a president, and nine out of 10 favored Bush.

The question of honesty cut strongly against Gore even in his home state of Tennessee. There, voters who said honesty was the most important asset in a president voted about 3-to-1 for Bush.

Similarly, more Texas voters said Gore would say anything to get elected. About one in five said they wanted a strong leader, and more than four-fifths of those voters went with Bush.

Texas voters gave Bush and Gore similar marks for possessing the knowledge to be president. But Gore voters remained adamant that their man was more qualified.

Bush "is just not ready to be a president," said Christine Garcia of Lubbock, who braved a snow shower to accompany her grandmother to the polls. "Al Gore is ready. He has already had his training as the vice president. We need someone with experience."

Gore partisans had hoped that last week's revelation that Bush had been arrested for drunken driving in 1976 might undermine the Texan's claim to stronger character, but Bush voters were not swayed.

"That didn't affect my decision," said Lindsey Lineweaver, a 21-year-old Texas Tech student from Dallas. "Although that one is very serious, we're all human. I think it's something he did in the past and not something that happened last night while he was running."

Voter News Service, a partnership of The Associated Press and the ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC television networks, conducted the survey of 591 voters as they left 20 randomly selected polling places around Texas. The sampling error margin for each result was plus or minus 5 percentage points for all voters, higher for subgroups.